Another Nightmare
by Stig92
Summary: Gobber couldn't convince Stoick to let Hiccup into the ring for dragon training, but situation gets complicated, when Hiccup faces a Monstrous Nightmare during a raid again. Except this time things go very differently thanks to certain black dragon.
1. Chapter 1

It is finally for me to move from reading fan fiction to writing my own. In this story Hiccup doesn't join dragon training, but things get complicated when he handles a Monstrous Nightmare during a raid, without dragon training. (note that this only happens several chapters into the story, so be patient)

The story itself will probably end relatively long but I can't promise any fixed schedule for posting since I have studies, positions in associations and story completely of my own making to worry about besides this.

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><p>It all had happened so fast. One moment he was soaring through the air fulfilling his Queens wishes. He had to destroy the weapons that those puny Vikings built to kill dragons by throwing large rocks at them. That was what he always did, purpose of his existence and he never failed, till now.<p>

He had just destroyed last of the weapons, his shriek alone making the Vikings cover in fear shouting "Night Fury". A moment too late another sound had reached his ears, sound of something flying towards him. At that point it had already been too late as ropes wrapped around his black scales, and worse his wings. The powerful wings that were carrying him mere second earlier became useless in an instance.

Naturally he tried to struggle against the ropes, but they wouldn't give out and ground was approaching quickly. Had he finally failed his queen.

Last thing the Night Fury knew before losing consciousness was a horrible pain in his tail. Not that there was spot in his body that didn't hurt.

Eventually he returned to consciousness, so he wasn't dead, yet. He had been knocked out for at least several hours considering how high the sun had climbed. The previous night came back to him like a flood. He had been hit by something, a weapon with weight in attached to ropes that Vikings used to trap unsuspecting dragons. Except no Viking should have been able to throw it far enough to hit him. Vikings were just weak humans after all. Did they have a new weapon? He'd have to destroy it next time they attacked the village to… to serve the queen… yes to serve their queen because…

Why was he serving her…?

Suddenly he realized it. He didn't want to serve the queen or raid the villages. He did it because she forced him, invaded his mind spoke to him telling what she wanted done, and he had done it. All of them had.

But he couldn't hear her anymore.

No.

The moment of happiness thinking he might be free passed, and he could feel her presence, but it was weak. It couldn't completely cover his mind. She was too far to extend her full strength for one dragon. Not that it mattered now. He couldn't move, bound by the ropes. Soon Vikings would probably show up to finish the job.

He laid down already ready to give up and was half asleep when a sound, a human sound came from just few meters away. He wasn't yet completely awake but the sound, and the smell, filled his senses. Then something came down on his bound front pawn. That made the dragon stir awake sending human stumbling back more from surprise than strength of the movement.

Few seconds later the Viking came back closer, and the dragon could finally see him. It was unlike any other Viking he had ever seen. The creature standing next to him was smaller and clearly weaker than any other Viking he had never seen. Even the metal weapon this puny creature was holding was smaller than anything they usually used against dragons. It all seemed strange, and after a moment dragon deduced it had to be just a hatchling. He was going to be killed by a Viking hatchling.

It was a shameful way to die, but he couldn't do anything about it. Even the small weapon and weak hands holding it would eventually penetrate deep enough in his flesh to kill. He closed his eyes, when it brought the weapon ready to strike, not wanting to witness what was going to happen, just waiting for the pain.

It never came. The human let out a small sound. It was hard to understand human voices, but it didn't sound threatening. He didn't get to think that when something even stranger happened. There was strange sound that got his attention and then the ropes around his body started to loosen. Was the Viking letting him go?

That couldn't be it. Vikings were enemies of the dragons, they would kill any dragon on sight. It had to be some kind of a trap. The voice of the queen was whispering to him. It was telling him to not give any mercy, so the moment he could move he leaped at the small Viking. The hatchling was pinned under his strong claws. Then something happened.

He was just going to gather gas for killing blast, when pair of green eyes met another smaller pair of similar eyes. Only the first pair held any hostility or hate. The smaller eyes showed fear and something more. Was it sadness? Eventually it seemed to accept it's fate, much the same way he must have looked mere moment ago.

And there were no other Vikings leaping at him as he expected, there was no sign of anyone else but the hatchling. He was about to kill someone's hatchling. You didn't just kill hatchlings especially one that had just spared your own live.

He held back his gases and instead let out only a deafening roar, a warning not to mess with dragons again.

Then he tried to fly away, but something was wrong, he couldn't control his flight and actually crashed against a cliff.

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><p>It all had been too much for Hiccup and he had fainted as soon as the dragon was out of sight.<p>

Luckily he didn't stay out cold for very long and started heading back for the village. The dragons roar was still echoing in his head. All that Hiccup got from the whole ordeal that he was really useless. All those years of being dismissed by everyone, bullied by his peers, and called useless, Hiccup had at least small hope. It was hope that someday he would kill a dragon one way or another and be recognized by the village. Now that hope was gone. Even when he managed to down a NIGHT FURY, he couldn't kill it. He wasn't killer, and in Berk that meant he was weak, a nobody no-one. No-one even believed that he downed the beast in the first place and now there was no way to prove it.

There was nothing left that he could do to redeem himself in front of everyone. He would just be same hold Hiccup the useless forever, or till he got killed in a raid. It wasn't like he hadn't been close often enough. Maybe the next time would be the charm. At least then the village would have something to celebrate after a raid.

Hiccup dragged himself home where his dad Stoic the Vast, one of the greatest dragon slayers in the world, was sitting in front of the fire, seemingly in his own thoughts. Hiccup didn't feel like facing his dad right then and tried to sneak behind him to the stairs that lead to his room. He wasn't quiet enough to succeed.

- "Hiccup", Stoick voice was unusually quiet when he called his son's name.

- "Dad, uh… I have to talk to you dad."

Stoick stood up and turned towards Hiccup.

- "I need to speak with you too son."

Then they both spoke at the same time.

- "I don't want to fight dragons", Hiccup.

- "You're not ready to fight dragons," Stoick.

Of course neither could make out what other one said.

- "You go first", for once Stoick offered to listen to his son.

- "No you go first", Hiccup hesitated and letting his dad speak first bought him time.

- "Alright, Hiccup Gobber spoke to me to convince me into letting you in dragon training."

- "Oh man, I should've gone first. Uh, because…", Hiccup was cut of by his dad.

- "Hiccup, I didn't agree with him. You're just not ready yet", Hiccup wasn't sure but Stoick voice sounded bit softer towards the end.

Then again it was probably just because the man was ashamed of his own son.

- "You are as old as the other recruits and… um smart, but you aren't yet strong enough to survive the training. Maybe next year."

- "Uh okay dad."

Stoick was slightly surprised that his son didn't resist more.

- "So… what was it you wanted to tell me?"

- "Oh… nothing important", Hiccup answered quickly.

- "Oh one more thing. You can't join dragon training but you still need to know how to survive a raid so you will follow the lessons from outside the arena, starting tomorrow."

Hiccup didn't even know what to say. His dad couldn't be doing this to him. Things were bad enough as they were and he would be bullied for not being in dragon training anyway, but having to watch from side-lines. He could only imagine how much worse things would be with all the other teens witnessing his uselessness every day.

Naturally Stoick didn't even notice his son's distress and heads for the door large bag hanging from his shoulder.

- "Follow Gobber's teaching carefully. I'll be back, probably."

- "And I'll be here, maybe", Hiccup responded and wasn't sure himself if the last part was sarcasm.

Next day Hiccup arrived at the arena as his father told him to, though he made sure to arrive only after everyone else. Maybe they wouldn't notice him during the training. For a moment it seemed to work when everyone's attention was first on twins bickering and then on Gobber when he started to introduce the dragons being held at the kill ring: the Deadly Nadder, the Hideous Zippleback, the Monstrous Nightmare, the Terrible Terror.

Gobber paused to yell at Fishlegs to stop… whatever he was doing or saying considering his lips moved.

Unfortunately this also broke what concentration the others had for listening to Gobber, and Tuffnut happened to glance up above the last metal door where certain boy was sitting. He didn't keep this discovery to himself.

- Hey, what's useless doing there?"

- "Well… he already killed a Night Fury, so it would be unfair if he was in the dragon training", Snotlout joked raising some laughs from the group.

Luckily Gobber put end to it before things escalated any further.

- "And… as I was saying… the Gronckle", during the last word he grabbed the lever used to open the heavy doors.

- "Whoa whoa, wait aren't you gonna teach us first", Snotlout mostly forgot Hiccup after seeing what Gobber intended.

- "I believe in learning on the job."

Then he pulled down the lever releasing the dragon. Gronckle flew straight out of it's den, through the point where other teens had just been, and directly to opposing fall. It took a moment to eat few rocks lying next to the wall, while Gobber started giving instructions to the teens. Apparently it was more important to have shield than an axe. It sounded strange because usually Vikings just cared about who had biggest weapon and could hit hardest with it. Dragons also didn't like the sound from hitting the shield with something.

Watching the other teens getting picked up one by one Hiccup felt some relieve that he wasn't there, but soon he concentrated on something else. It was just how his mind worked. The Gronckle was supposed to be bloodthirsty beast but it only shot the shields out of other's hands but never attacked after that. Earlier it even chased Fishlegs around the Kill Ring but never shot before said teen got a shield.

Eventually the dragon had used all of it's six shots, and got dragged back to it's den by Gobber. By this time Astrid was only one who still had her shield. Then Gobber said something that Hiccup suddenly found himself doubting.

- "A dragon will always always go for the kill."

Except Gronckle didn't seem to do so, and Hiccup was still alive after being pinned down under the claws of a Night Fury.


	2. Chapter 2

Turns out that this week was lighter than I expected and the positive response here motivated me to already write second chapter.

reviews:

**zcvoknout**: Yes there will be, right now.

**unpredictable cupcake**: I have read one such story. Here I thought it would highlight Hiccup's status in the village and certain events (harder to believe for villagers/explain to Hiccup) if Hiccup wasn't already winning dragon training.

**Agent Washingtub**: Not surprised about that. I have to speak in english to half of my friends (who themselves aren't native speaker), but I have only written less than 20 pages of fiction in English in my live + some English schoolwork. Maybe few dozen thousand words more and it'll start getting better.

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><p>Wasn't it enough that he crashed and almost got killed by Viking hatchling. He had also lost his tail fin and that made him crash again when he tried to leave. The difference was that this time he crashed in large cove. The steep cliffs that formed the walls of said cove were too high to climb. He had tried, and still did.<p>

At least the queen's voice had been quieter than before. Why bother with maimed and trapped dragon that would soon die anyway.

Still he wasn't about to die of starvation in that cove, and bounced up again for another try to get out of there. His wings were flapping madly while the strong claws were practically ripping pieces of rock out of the cliff side. The effort proved as useless as the last ten times, but at least he managed to turn around before hitting the ground and glided to other side of a pond that covered large portion of the cove. The following attempts where he tried to fly rather than climb weren't any better. In fact they were worse and he expressed his feelings for that with plasma blast that burned crass in front of him.

Without the tail fin he just couldn't control the flight and his last attempt ended with him crashing face first to the ground missing the water by less than a meter.

His attention was momentarily caught by a fish passing surface of the water right next to the shore. Dragons could eat lot at once and then go day or two without eating, but it was already two days since his last meal. Problem was that he was used to catching fish by diving at them from above. Without flying thing got a lot harder.

Not that there was enough fish in that pond to feed him more than a day or so anyway.

Disappointed the black dragon lied down onto the crass. Maybe if he rested he could gather enough strength to get out of this place. The peace lasted for only a moment when something fell on the rocks on the other side of the cove, with sound easily heard in the otherwise silent place.

Above the point where the unknown object had ended there was and edge on the cliff, and on it the same Viking hatchling as before. Had it come to finish him after all. It could have just gone back to the Viking nest to get bigger Vikings to do the deed and they could charge him at any moment.

Then again, why would it? It already had him at its mercy previous day. Why would it first free him, and then wait a day to bring others to kill him. It didn't look threatening or angry to his sharp eyes while standing on the cliff on all four of it's limbs instead of normal two. As far as he could understand he looked bit startled for being seen, but there was also something else on the small creatures face, something non-threatening.

He wasn't a Viking expert but was still fairly certain the small creature hadn't come to kill him.

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><p>Hiccup wasn't certain what to think of the odd meeting. Earlier on the day he had wondered into the forest just trying to stay out of sight and avoid his bullies, but couldn't ignore what Gobber had said in the end of dragon training<em>, "A dragon will always… always go for the kill"<em>.

So why didn't the Night Fury?

Honestly, he hadn't expected to actually find said dragon still on the island and not very far from the point where it had crashed. Afterwards it was easy to not it hadn't seemed to fly very well after Hiccup released it from bolas, but he wasn't at his sharpest at the time.

Still to find the most dangerous, most reclusive dragon Vikings knew of trapped in a large cove at Raven Point was surprising. Even more surprising was that when it noticed him, Hiccup didn't really feel scared, after first shock. It wasn't just because the dragon was trapped below him, since it could easily have blasted him from that distance.

Hiccup also got strange feeling that the dragon felt much the same, although he could barely see it's expression, mostly the large green eyes. Naturally he had no experience of reading dragons expressions, why would he they were supposed to be mindless beasts. At least that was, what he had always been taught.

Could there be more to them than everyone thought?

This was what Hiccup was wondering when he arrived at the great hall for dinner. By that time, it was already dark. The winter wasn't very far and days were getting steadily shorter. Other teens were already at the hall having dinner and discussing day's training. There were only few other people in the hall. One of who had seemingly passed out after drinking too much mead.

- "Alright. Where did Astrid go wrong in the ring today?

- "I mistimed my summersault dive. It was sloppy. It threw of my reverse tumble."

Just the kind of answer you'd expect from Astrid. Rufnut seemed to agree.

- "Yeah we noticed."

- "No, no you were great. That was so Astrid", Snotlout added praising his crush.

- "She's right you have to be tough on yourselves."

Gobber's eyes turned to hiccup who passed the table others were sitting in. Snotlout made sure to move so Hiccup couldn't fit in the same table. Not that he needed to do so. Hiccup was already used to eating alone and didn't even try to intrude in the group.

- "Hiccup you had pretty good sight of the ring. Where did others go wrong?"

He didn't just do that. Couldn't he just eat his dinner in peace, alone, without having to deal with the others.

- "Oh… I don't really know. I mean I'm not dragon expert."

- "Maybe, but you're quite perceptive lad. Now, what did you see in the ring."

- "We'll… They could be faster. I mean shield is good and all if you can hold onto it, but only Astrid managed to keep her shield because she didn't get hit. If the Gronckle attacked second time after blasting the shield they could have been killed."

- "Good anything else", it was more like an order than question.

- "They didn't seem to concentrate very well, at least Snotlout and the twins didn't", Hiccup added very carefully.

From said people's faces he could tell it might not have been the best idea. He should probably shut up now to avoid problems.

- "Is that all."

- "They were afraid of the dragon."

Where did that come from? Wasn't he supposed to keep quiet. Now he was in even more trouble than before.

- "Look who's talking. The whole village heard you last time you were close to a dragon useless", Snotlout managed to open his mouth first, though it earned him hard smack to the head from Gobber.

- "He would probably have hidden behind the weapons racks the moment Gobber let the dragon out", Tuffnut wasn't deterred by Snotlout's fate.

Actually only one in the group of teens who didn't show hostility towards Hiccup at that moment was Fishlegs, who looked to be closer to sad than angry. Then again what was the difference to how things were… always."

- "Now Hiccup... Can you explain what you meant."

Oh great, what was he supposed to answer, when he himself didn't know why he had said what he said. Expect that he had been face to face with the most feared dragon twice in as many days, and survived after being pinned down by its claws. Also he was behind metal net when others were fighting the Gronckle.

- "umm… I know the dragon is dangerous, but if they let the fear influence their fighting it might slow them down."

- "Very good Hiccup", Gobber turned to face rest of the group, "You need to live and breathe this stuff."

Gobber laid a large book on the table stressing his words.

- "The dragon manual. Everything we know about every dragon we know of", sound of thunder cut him of, "No attack tonight. Study up."

- "Wait we read?" Tuffnut was shocked at the idea as Gobber left

- "While we're still alive", Ruffnut joined in. Wonder what she thought afterlife would be like.

- "Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you stuff about", and there was large part of what was wrong in Viking society in Hiccup's opinion, summarised by Snotlout of all people.

Then again he was prime example of just that. Luckily there was at least one person that didn't seem lost cause, Fishlegs.

- "Oh, I've read it like seven times. There is this water dragon that sprays boiling water at your face, and there is this other one that buries itself for like a week… "

Unfortunately he picked the wrong audience to show his knowledge as seen when Tuffnut cut him of.

- "Yeah, that sound great, and there was a change I was going to read that."

- "but now", Ruffnut finished what her brother was saying.

At that point Snotlout decided it was time to go and got up.

- "You guys read. I'll go kill stuf."

See perfect Viking.

The others followed with Fishlegs continuing his rambling about different dragons. Astrid was left last besides Hiccup who hadn't even finished eating yet. He was interested in the book though.

- "So, have you read it yet?"

- "Yes."

It was the only answer Astrid bothered to give Hiccup, before leaving.

Hiccup finished his dinner, and planned to return home, but couldn't ignore the book still laying on the table. He had actually never read it before. It wasn't because he didn't want to read, like certain others. Actually Hiccup was probably the most literate person in the village after Fishlegs. His father was the one who had never given Hiccup a change to read that specific book. He was afraid it would encourage Hiccup to do something stupid.

It was already late and Hiccup was the last person in the dark hall. He managed to find few candles to provide enough light for reading. For some reason he tended to repeat everything he read aloud.

- "Dragon Classification, Strike class, Fear class, Mystery class. Thunderdrum, this reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools. When startled the Thunderdrum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight."

As Hiccup read on it became apparent that there were three main points to know about every and any dragon: in what horrible ways it could kill you, it was extremely dangerous and should be killed on sight. Finally he arrived at an almost empty page. Title on the top read Night Fury.

- "Speed unknown, size unknown, the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only change, hide and pray it doesn't find you."

The page had no picture, but Hiccup pulled out his notebook and placed it on the book with sketch of the dragon he made after finding it in the cove.

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><p>This story is still fairly close to the movie with my own twists here and there. There is going to be more of those in following chapters till the story moves further away from the movie at around chapter 6.<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

- That took bit longer than last one, but I think I warned you in the first chapter that I have lot of things going on (if it's any consolation this chapter is about 50% longer than previous ones).

Unfortunately, the next chapter is unlikely to come out any sooner as I deadlines and exams coming during next 2 weeks.

Oh and this story got past 1000 views, probably not so much comparing to some other stories here, but for me it is lot. (Especially people from USA seem interested.) No wonder my writing has progressed well recently (for this and other nonfanfic story I'm working on) even with everything else going on.

Story is still following close to the movie, but I'm trying to get new points of view and build differences. They'll grow in time and complete break up from movie should happen around chapters 7 and 8 with current (I said 6 earlier and and it will extend quite a bit from what movie showed). If you have any suggestions or ideas I promise to at least listen, but this is still my story.

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><p>- "Today is all about ATTACK!<p>

Fishlegs barely avoided hottest known dragon fire, and got his hammer melted before Gobber had even finished his instructions.

- "Nadders are quick and light on their feet. Your job is to be quicker and lighter."

- "I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods", Fishlegs shouted while running from the dragon through maze Gobber had built in the ring.

Nadder encouraged Fishlegs' running with hail of spikes from it's tail that luckily only hit boy's shield. Somehow, shields and weapons seemed to be the only things that actually were hit.

Hiccup couldn't help but think being in Fishlegs' position if his dad had put him in dragon training. It might have made his live worse outside the training, but when others were dodging dragon fire, he could only feel relieved. Gobber's relatively careless attitude didn't help the matter. At least during the training with Gronckle he had been in the ring with the recruits.

- "Look for it's blind spot. Every dragon has one. Find it. Hide in it, and strike."

Which would be lot easier if they read the dragon manual which clearly listed blind spots for each dragon.

- "You know Gobber. I just happened to notice the book had nothing on Night Furies. Is there another book, or a sequel, maybe a little Night Fury pamphlet?", Hiccup tried to take advantage from the situation since he was standing right next to the smith.

- "Concentrate Hiccup. Even if you're not in the ring yet, you still need to learn this."

Their attention was pulled back to the ring by twins' bickering, again. They had accidentally found Nadder's blind spot, but one dragon's blind spot wasn't big enough for both of them. They were again seemingly lucky as the dragon only let it's fire loose fraction of a second after they got out of the way, warned by its snarl.

- "Blind spot, yes. Deaf spot, not so much", Gobber giggled to his comment.

- "So, how you think one would sneak up on Night Fury?"

- "No one has never met one and lived to tell the tale. Now, eyes, ring."

- "I know, but hypothetically?"

- "Fishlegs" Astrid's low shout came from below then.

The scared boy noticed the other's hiding from the dragon. For a moment things seemed to go fell. Astrid and Snotlout managed to take advantage of dragons blind spot and cross past the corridor from which the Nadder was coming. Fishlegs stayed hidden on the other side.

- "They probably take the daytime of. You know, like a cat. Has anyone ever seen one napping."

This time Hiccup didn't even manage to get Gobber's attention. Snoutlout had tried to impress Astrid, again, but hammer he threw missed at least by meter. The following chain of events ended with most of the maze walls fallen and Astrid on top of Fishlegs with her axe embedded in boy's shield.

- "Ooh, love on the battlefield" Tuffnut commented amidst the chaos which he loved.

- "She could do better", Ruffnut added.

Luckily Astrid managed to pull her axe and Fishlegs' shield from boy's arm and swung it at dragon's head. Nadder yelped and stumbled away from the two. Astrid took few seconds to catch her breath before turning angrily at boy still laying on the ground next to her.

- "What's wrong with you? Our parents war is about to become ours! Figure out which side you are!"

Hiccup couldn't help but feel sorry for the larger boy. He had never really seen this side of Astrid. Sure, she had short fuse, but Hiccup had never seen her treat others like this. Usually she just gave people cold shoulders or bent wrists near breaking point if someone got too close.

He didn't like what he was seeing, but he had other things to do.

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><p>This time he noticed it coming. Last time the hatchling had come below the wind, but this time he could smell it's approach. He also smelt fish. So far the hatchling hadn't made anything threatening, but that was pretty much all he knew. He couldn't understand the creatures intentions. It was better to hide behind some rocks and see what would happen.<p>

It didn't take long for sound of light footsteps to reach his sensitive ears. A moment later one of those round wooden things Vikings used to protect themselves appeared in between some rocks at entrance of narrow crack in the cove fall and fish was thrown over it.

After not eating for three days, he had nearly unbearable urge to leap at the food, but carefulness still prevailed and he stayed hidden. Few seconds later the round thing started moving again, but stopped suddenly stuck between the rocks. The hatchling came into view from under the thing. It took the fish onto one of its small front claws, or maybe just paws, which it didn't use for walking and progressed into the cove slowly looking around.

The Viking was searching him of course. There were no signs of any others of its kind anywhere close. He had climbed out from hiding and was now standing on top of one of the rocks behind the little creature. It didn't take long for it to notice the black dragon climbing down from the rock with warning snarl. Some sniffing as the smell of the fish assaulted his nerves stronger than before followed that. It was becoming increasingly hard to control himself, the sight of food combined with queen's voice whispering him to kill the little thing in front of him and eat it with the fish.

It was oblivious that the hatchling was also struggling to control itself though from fear. It still held its ground and extended the wish further from it's body towards the dragon. Since when did Vikings give gifts to dragons or could it be some sort of peace offering. Dragons sometimes settled arguments by sharing their food.

At the moment it didn't matter. He was starving and would have that fish. He approached carefully, but stopped suddenly with another snarl after noticing something he didn't like. There was something under the bear skin that this hatchling carried around it's own body. His suspicion was confirmed when it pulled the bear skin aside revealing one of those shiny blades that Vikings used to kill dragons. It was smallest that he had ever seen, but could be dangerous if he had come to close and exposed his neck. The queen's whispers were still telling him to kill, but even if only to resist her, he didn't.

He was also somehow reluctant to think this hatchling really intended to harm him.

This though was reinforced when it dropped the blade to the ground. Still too close for his tastes, he tried to gesture that he wanted it further away. Surprisingly the Viking didn't just understand his message, but also did what he wanted. After kicking the weapon into the water it offered the fish again. Apparently it was serious of not wanting to hurt him, as if it could.

This time the small hatchling seemed far less scared holding the fish for approaching dragon. It let out some Viking words as he was reaching for the fish his teeth still retracted in their gums. It didn't sound scared or threatening, only few silent sounds, most prominent being _"toothless"_.

The dragon didn't really pay attention to the sounds he couldn't understand anyway, and they ended when he brought out his teeth and grabbed the fish. He had already eaten the whole fish by the time the hatchling let out another sound though it sounded more like a sight.

He wouldn't have believed it few days earlier, but he was actually fed and might be saved from starvation, by a Viking hatchling. He would never have expected one of them to help a dragon, but the curious creature had just done so. He approached the creature to get closer look and sniff its scent. Hatchling apparently though it was threatening as it backed away from him letting some sound that were bit higher than before. Eventually it well to the ground and backed to a rock. He was bit amused by its behaviour, but had other things to worry about.

The fish must have been some kind of peace offering as he had thought. Maybe Vikings were more similar to dragons than he had though. Unfortunately giving a gift was only half of the process, as he knew it. The purpose was to share food not just take it from another, and here he realized his mistake. After days without proper meal, he had just taken the entire fish and left nothing. It was no wonder if this little creature was more worried than before.

Well, at this point he could only think one way to fix the situation, though doing it felt even weirder than being fed by Viking that didn't try to kill him. It took some effort to make muscles in his stomach and throat to do what he wanted since he never had had hatchlings of his own.

After few seconds, he regurgitated half of the fish he had just eaten. It was the bottom half. He might have offered back part of the food, but at least he would keep the best part.

After giving up the food, he lifted his front body up to sit on his tail, and give the small Viking more room. Strangely, it didn't eat the fish just staring at him strangely and then looking away. Was it rejecting his offer? Sure, his offer was miserable, but he hardly had opportunity to do better, and he had regurgitated it to him. He basically treated the hatchling like he would his own.

He tried to nod at the fish it was holding to ask it to eat the fish. Hatchling repeated the same movement just faster and it expression change just as fast. Then it changed again before hatchling's small paws lifted the fish to its mouth. For a moment, he thought the small thing accepted his offering. His ears must have stood up of… happiness? relieve?

He didn't know why he would have any such feelings. It was against his very being as a dragon, not to mention the queen's mind still tugging his own.

It didn't help that he noticed the hatchling still hadn't swallowed even the small piece of fish it had bitten of. Did it refuse the offer after all? He just watched it for a moment and gulped worried that might be the case. Eventually the small creature however swallowed the fish, with what seemed like some difficulty. Maybe there had been something wrong with the fish after all, something that Vikings didn't like. That would explain why it took so long to accept the offer. It had only eaten small piece, but he was satisfied with that.

He also got more interested in what the hatchling did next with its face. It was another expression, which Viking could bend their face to form. For a moment, he thought it was some kind of a threat since it was showing its teeth, but it didn't seem threatening. That expression made him feel that this hatchling had accepted his offer, more than eating of the fish had done. He even tried to mimic it taken by the strange moment.

Then it started getting up which instinctively made him more careful despite everything that had already happened. Then it started reaching for him with one of its front claws. There was no way it could hurt him. He didn't believe it would hurt him even if it could.

Still it was a Viking and he was a dragon. His instincts and queens voice demanded him to kill the small thing. It would only take second. The hatchling would be completely helpless to do anything.

He would not let her take control, not now that he finally saw her for what she was, not again. He couldn't risk attacking the Viking hatchling and giving her what she wanted. Only way to make sure of it was to get away from the small Viking, so he flew, kind of, to the other side of the cove. After burning the ground so it would be more comfortable, he lied down trying to clear his thoughts.

Apparently, the little thing didn't understand that he wanted to be left alone. Not long after he had settled nicely, he noticed a bird jumping from a tree and flying away. Normally he wouldn't have cared for that, but the bird acted as a reminder of his own inability to fly anymore. There however was no time to sulk about it. The hatchling was sitting barely two meters from him. Her voice was still telling him to kill, but he resisted and tried to block the hatchlings effect by covering his head with the remaining tail fin. That was all it was good for anymore. Not even that actually because the hatchling still tried to touch him when it tough he wouldn't notice its approach.

He might not have known much details of Viking behaviour outside battle, but even he saw how poorly it tried to pretend innocent while withdrawing rather quickly. Though this time it seemed to learn it lesson, and he got some rest in peace hanging from a tree with his tail. When he woke up the sun was already going down.

The hatchling on the other hand had not gone anywhere. It was sitting on a small rock next to the water and doing something with a stick. His mind was clearer after the rest and her voice wasn't as strong anymore so he allowed his curiosity to get best of him. He could tell that the hatchling had noticed him, when he got behind it, but it continued what it had been doing. The stick was scraping the ground forming crossing lines on the sand. They seemed to form something and as the hatchling continued its work he finally recognised himself in the sand.

He was curious, how it had transferred his appearance onto the sand. He wasn't sure of what to do with the stubborn hatchling, but wanted to try creating a picture of his own. Stick it had used was too small for him though. It took him only a moment to rip of sufficient branch and bring it back where the small Viking was sitting. It had created his picture so he would try to create its picture. Maybe this was Viking custom, like sharing food was for dragons.

The work was quickly done and he thought it looked good. He couldn't do it as small and precise as the hatchling could with its smaller claws. Vikings, and especially this one, might have been weak compared to dragons, but their front paws could do things that dragons would never be able to do. That must have been how they could create all the tools, and weapons to resist dragons attacks.

As large, as his creation was the hatchling was left in the middle of it looking around, probably amazed by his work. Then it stepped right on top of one of the lines. He left a low growl not liking the idea of his work being ruined. For few seconds the hatchling seemed to understand before stepping again on the same spot, with the same result. It repeated the same thing again. Was it taunting him, and why?

For a moment, it seemed to do the same fourth time, but extended its leg further to step over the line. Looking back at him sides of its mouth seemed to bend upwards much like after eating the fish, except this time without showing its teeth.

He observed as the hatchling moved carefully through the maze of lines, its small legs moving gracefully over the lines to fall on undisturbed patches of land. They both were so concentrated on that motion that neither realized it was coming towards him till it almost collided his stomach, exposed in his current upright position. He hadn't even noticed how relaxed he himself was acting around this little creature, that was supposed to be his enemy.

Then it tried to extend one of its front paws towards his snout. He should probably have expected it. The movement made him careful and more aware of queens voice again. Still he only snarled at it to keeps its paws away. Then another thing he should have at least partially expected happened. It tried again, but this time different.

It closed its eyes and turned its head away leaving itself completely exposed. Of course, it never could have done anything if he truly wanted to hurt it, but this kind of absolute show of… trust, was unheard of. It had clearly shown him it didn't want to harm him, it had helped him and clearly wanted to get closer to him, in a good way. He had constantly suspected, avoided and even threatened it.

Still, here they were. He still couldn't understand why the Viking did this, but the longer it stood there leaving its live to his claws, the more right it felt. Even as queen's voice was nearly screaming at him, he pushed his snout gently to touch the hatchling's paw.

What happened next was so overwhelming that he didn't even notice her voice's disappearance, till long after that moment.


	4. Chapter 4

Well its been a while since I updated too many things to do that I have to prioritize ahead of this. Luckily this story feels easiest to write out of 3 I'm working on (other 2 aren't fanfiction so don't try to find them). I first started working on this chapter 3 days ago on got over 2500 words. I have short story that has progressed 800 words in a month (though in Finnish thats more text than in English). Might have something to do with the fact I like Hiccup/Toothless bonding scenes.

**Brenne** Hiccup might have shut up the queen for Toothless but bonding is just coming now. 

**dracologistmaster** Great that you like it. What parts you think make it more believable? Have to try and hang onto those.

**the stargate time traveller** Hints: 1. I never really liked how she behaved in the movie before flight on Toothless. 2. Hiccup is more forgiving person (at least in movie) than I am.

**zcvoknout**Thanks again for that good comment. I'll try to keep up both Hiccup and Toothless POV.

He wasn't sure what he expected when touching the paw, but it definitely wasn't this. It felt like his mind has exploded outwards till it met hatchlings mind. It was something like he had never experienced. There where some cases when dragons could reach with their mind to touch others, especially between parents and their hatchlings or between mates. Then there was the queen who used this to twist the minds of the dragons in the nest.

No one had ever touched Viking mind as far as he knew, till now.

If he had had a clue what was going to happen he would have expected the other mind to feel small and weak, like its body. He would have been wrong. The mind he felt definitely wasn't anywhere near as massively imposing as the queen's, but it clearly held power. It wasn't the kind of brute force that dragons mind might have had, like what queen used to reach minds of her dragons even islands away, but the mind he touched was leagues away above her in complexity.

The moment he felt that mind it pulled him in. Momentarily he tried to resist best he could but parts of his own mind and memories started to slip from his grasp. He soon gave up resisting as he could also feel part of what the other was feeling and there was no animosity. All he could really feel was surprise and curiosity and then so much more as the other mind met his. Memories and feeling rushed through him as if they were pushed to him.

As the memories and feelings filled his head he guessed why. There was so much loneliness and depression. He didn't pretend to know Vikings especially well, but could understand loneliness. Even under queen's dragons still kept part of their free will despite obeying her every whim. Unfortunately each race stayed mostly with their own kind leaving him alone as only nigh fury in the nest, for many long winters.

This hatchling was the same, except it… he… still had his mind all to himself and lived with his own race. Other Vikings treated him like other dragons treated the night fury, even worse as the small thing didn't have strength. Respect for strength seemed to be something in common between Vikings and dragons. This hatchling's… Hiccup's strength was in his mind. The black dragon could see in hatchling's memories. How he could create things in his mind and then turn them into reality with his paws. No one cared about this strength but…

One of the things this weak bodied hatchling created was what brought him down. It was what took his tail fin. The maimed dragon should have been mad about this, but even if his thoughts weren't one big mess right then, he couldn't have mustered enough anger against Hiccup. Some of the feelings he received from the hatchling were about understanding and quilt about what he had done.

He didn't have much time to give for this realizations as the other's thoughts were already moving forward. He saw more of Hiccup's memories when hatchling's thoughts brushed against his, but as this continued he started to feel dizzy. He had listened queen's whispers as long as he could remember, but she only cared what happened on top of his mind. Hiccup took his mind apart and looked what was inside.

It was too much. If he didn't feel what Hiccup was feeling, he would have lashed out thinking he was threatening him. Instead he held himself back, trusting that the other wouldn't hurt him.

Moment before everything blacked out could, he could sense feeling of surprise and worry.

Hiccup's eyes flipped open. He didn't quite understand all that had just happened, but when the Night Fury had touched his hand, he could feel what it was feeling… he was feeling. All the emotions and memories were hard to comprehend, but it was clear this wasn't just some mindless animal. He could feel and think, and feel pain. Hiccup could see how lonely he was and could instantly sympathise. He also wanted to know more and instinctually reached his mind further. Some of the most prominent memories he could find were about flight, and losing it. A wave of quilt rushed over Hiccup when he remembered the missing tail fin he had noticed the previous days.

Other strong memories included a massive dragon that the Night Fury felt clear fresh anger. Hiccup pushed deeper wanting to know more about this dragon, but something else covered those memories. He could feel increasing worry and everything he sensed from the dragon seemed to get fuzzier.

Then the strange connection had been gone and Hiccup now longer felt scales against his palm. The Night Fury seemed to have collapsed in front of him. Hiccup suddenly felt scared, not for himself, but for the dragon. Hiccup dropped on his kneels feeling thick-scaled neck with his hand. After feeling and hearing, breathing the boy could relax slightly. He sat cross-legged next to the large black head. Watching the unconscious form laying and the ground large tongue hanging from the toothless mouth, Hiccup could no longer see dangerous animal. Where he had felt fear mere moments ago he now only had a warm feeling he remembered never having before. Hiccup leaned on one of the short neck placing his hand affectionally on dragons head.

- "I'm sorry… Toothless", Hiccup said sadly taking a peek at the maimed tail, "I promise I'm not going to let you die here."

At the time, Hiccup hadn't paid enough attention to one fact during his connection with the dragon. It was understandable with dozen other shocking revelations running through his head, but suddenly he knew with absolute certainty. This dragon, Toothless, was starving. He wouldn't last alone in this cove for very long.

Hiccup was brought out of his thoughts when the large black mass next to him moved. When he lifted head upright, his green eyes met almost matching though larger pair. For a moment, Hiccup felt uncertainty of the dragon's intention, though not real fear. Toothless made the first move nuzzling his large head against Hiccup's chest letting out a calming crooning sound.

- "Clad you'r okay too", Hiccup said with smile, real genuine smile of happiness.

He managed to push the large head away from his chest and hold it with both hands gently on each side. They looked each other in the eyes.

- "Friends?"

The dragon kept staring at the boy, tilting his head slightly as if not understanding Hiccup. Of course he didn't understand. From their brief mental contact Hiccup knew for sure Toothless was smarter than anyone ever thought possible for a dragon, possibly not far from human. It still didn't mean he would have understood human speech. There wouldn't really have been much changes, with every Viking wanting Night Fury head on their wall.

Hiccups trail of though was gut of when his face was suddenly covered in dragon slobber. At first he was surprised but soon understood that it was Toothless answer for his questions, whether he understood the word or not.

Then the dragon did something that Hiccup would also have thought to be beyond dragon's intelligence, just two days ago. Toothless looked to the darkening sky got up making Hiccup almost fall before getting up himself. By this time, Toothless was already behind the boy and used his head to push him gently towards exit of the cove. When Hiccup tried to stop and turned to face his new friend. Toothless pointed his head towards darkening forest and let out a croon that sounded less happy and more worried than before. Hiccup figured out meaning of the gesture in few seconds and wasn't sure how to react. No one had ever shown that kind of worry for him. Of course, his father could be protective but he just forbade things and shouted at him. There was never the kind of caring protectiveness this dragon was showing him.

- "Thanks bud. I'll come back tomorrow with more food."

Hiccup was clad Toothless made him leave when he did. He had spent a lot of time in that forest and there weren't really many dangerous animals on berk, but walking home in dark wasn't most appealing of ideas. He still didn't get home till it was all dark.

There weren't many people going around so Hiccup used this change to sneak into one of village's food storages and carried full basket of fish back into his house. He had a promise to keep. He was clad that Stoick was away on nest hunt. Things would get lot harder for Hiccup when he came back. For now, all he had to worry was someone noticing missing fish, and the smell.

After he had hidden the fish in his room, Hiccup followed his own stomach towards the Great hall for dinner. Only thing he had eaten since lunch was small bit of raw fish regurgitated by the most feared dragon Vikings knew, not much about. Gobber was supposed to have dinner on one of the catapult towers with the dragon training class. He had actually asked Hiccup to join but boy didn't think so. Speaking of Gobber, the blacksmith was just returning from the tower when Hiccup came back from his own dinner.

- "Hiccup where've you been? You missed the dinner."

- "Gobber, you know they don't want me I'd be just asking for trouble."

- "I know you and they don't always see eye' to eye, but you need to make some friends", Gobber waved his prosthetic hand while he was speaking.

Hiccup didn't answer him after that. His eyes were fixated on Gobber's prosthetics. The man shook his head and started walking away muttering something about attention span. He momentarily stopped and turned around.

- "Tell me you at least remembered to sharpen those weapons."

- "Oh right, sure. I'll just go check I didn't miss any."

- "Sure, you'll do that."

Actually Hiccup had already done all the work Gobber had asked him to do before going to the cove, but Gobber didn't need to know that. Hiccup had busy night ahead of him. He just wished his idea would work. He rushed straight to his small backroom after getting to the forge and placed his notebook on the table. Hiccup opened it on the page with his first drawing of Toothless from the previous day. It was the picture, from which he had removed the left tail fin. Now he drew it back and took out larger paper to prepare more detailed plan before getting to work.

Hiccup could work hard when he put his mind into it and when that happened it didn't matter how late it was. He had found a possible solution for a problem and wouldn't stop until it was done. When he finished, Hiccup held an artificial tailfin in his hands comparing it to his original plan. After concluding he had done it right Hiccup closed the fin and returned home with it. When he opened door to enter his house Hiccup happened to take look at the Horizon and saw first light of sun. He groaned silently understanding there wouldn't be time to sleep. If he wasn't at the kill ring following others training, Gobber or someone else would eventually come searching for him. After short consideration, Hiccup decided to eat quickly and head straight to kill ring. That way he could sleep there until last moment without being late.

The Village was just waking up when he walked through it and there were only few people walking around. After getting to the kill ring Hiccup positioned himself on the bleachers opposite of the entrance to the ring near the large chair his father used whenever a dragon was to be killed. Hiccup was never really interested in that type of entertainment, but now, after meeting Toothless, he could only feel disgust towards the whole place. It didn't help to hear low grumbling and some sad whines from the dens directly under him. Some of them reminded him about black dragon that had showed him friendship.

Hiccup tried to concentrate on the last part as he leaned on back of the chair. Sitting on chief's chair could have rubbed on someone the wrong way. Knowing certain more vikingly teens, that would lead to violence. Despite the relatively uncomfortable position and increasing light Hiccup quickly fell to sleep, for a moment.

He woke up to sounds from the ring, the twins bickering to be exact. Unwillingly Hiccup pushed himself up from the hard surface and walked closer to the edge so he could see, and Gobber would see he was there. Sitting legs grossed on the edge filled both needs.

This time Gobber had decided to go back to using the Gronckle after the Nadder disaster. This time the teens did a little better. They got their shields ready when the dragon came out and their movement was little more dodging and little less running in terror. On Hiccup's behalf one had to say that he did his best to follow the training since Gobber might ask his observations again later. Unfortunately, even the entertainment value of seeing Snotlout thrown into a wall wasn't enough to counter his lack of sleep. Leaning on one of the support pylons for the net above the ring Hiccup fell asleep in the middle of training session.

He woke up abruptly with a punch to the head. Hiccup fell backwards from his leaning position letting out a shout of pain when his head hit the ground.

- "Why did you do that!?"

- "What's up with you! Our parent's war is about to become ours and you can't even care enough to stay awake!" Astrid shouted.

Hiccup frantically looked around. The training was over obliviously, but it meant that Gobber was gone too. Unfortunately he could still see Snotlout and the twins behind fuming Astrid. Fishlegs was standing further away looking worried. Hiccup knew from experience that he wouldn't be getting any help from the easily scared boy.

Fear was starting to rise in Hiccup too, and for a good reason. He had barely taken in the situation when pain filled his thoughts again. This time it came in for of kick to his side.

- "Figure out which side you are on."

Astrid walked away angrily, but Hiccup knew his ordeal wasn't over yet. With years of experience, Hiccup used the brief opening and sprung into motion before Snotlout came to blame Hiccup for annoying 'his girl'. The other boy didn't waste time running after his prey. Luckily, Hiccup made up in speed most of what he lacked in strength. Others blocked Hiccups way to the bridge leading to village so he run up the stairs carved on cliff behind Kill ring. By the time he got on the top Hiccup had already put decent amount of space between himself and his more heavily built cousin. Twins could have run faster than Snotlout but Tufnut had tried to push his sister down the clip at some point things had escalated from that.

Hiccup ran inland to go around the gorge separating Kill ring from the village. He would have to get the fish and his newest creation from home before heading to meet certain black dragon.


	5. Chapter 5

**supersandman86**** / ****zcvoknout**I honestly haven't decided where to take Hiccup's and Astrid's relationship but I can't say I liked her behavior in the movie + I think Hiccup forgives bit too easily. Also if I was Astrid I'd be more worried of certain black dragon. He can be protective you know.

Sorry, no test flight just yet ;)

**dracologistmaster** Thank you for sharing your observations. I'm pretty sure that I will use 3-6 some more, some in this chapter thanks to you.

**The dragon1010 **Yest to x extend, but I don't want to rush it "learned dragon language in a week" or "Thor blessed us" style.

* * *

><p>Hiccup was out of breath by the time he got to the cove. Long detour home from the kill ring and hauling both large basket full of fish and the new tail fin, took a lot from Hiccup's small body. Getting all of that past the shield still stuck at the entrance to the cove didn't help the matter.<p>

He was just about to call toothless when his eyes were pulled to the spot where said dragon was lying. Somehow he could tell Toothless was on that exact spot before he had even looked. Larger green eyes of the dragon were also open and following Hiccup. Hiccup could tell that Toothless was happy to see him again and had already smelled the insides of boy's fish basket.

How Hiccup knew how the dragon was feeling, he had no idea and at the moment he didn't really pay attention to it.

- "Hey Toothless. I brought you something to eat", Hiccup said dropping the basket on the ground and kicked it to fall and spill its insides, "Okay that's disgusting."

Hiccup had to resist temptation to hold his nose, but Toothless didn't seem to share his opinions. The dragon had gotten up and approached the pile of fish sniffing it eagerly ready to devour the smelly pile.

- "We got some salmon, some nice Icelandic cod and a whole smoked eel."

Suddenly Toothless notices the eel and backs of snarling. Hiccup pulls the slimy creature out of the pile causing the dragon to back of some more with his wings spread.

- "No, no, no!" Hiccup threw the ell to the pond, "Yea, I don't really like eels either."

He was expecting Toothless go back to eating now that the eel was gone, but the green dragon eyes stuck looking at him. Hiccup didn't need his new found ability to sense dragon's feelings to know that Toothless was feeling anger when his eyes narrowed to slits. Black dragon pushed past his first real meal in days approaching Hiccup, never taking his eyes of the boy.

- "Uh Toothless, is everything okay", Hiccup asked with slight worry while slowly backing away from the approaching dragon.

He didn't understand why Toothless was suddenly acting like that. Just a moment ago, the dragon had looked so happy to see him again. It couldn't be because of the eel. Hiccup had gotten rid of it immediately when Toothless showed he didn't like it. It also didn't help that Hiccup didn't notice a small rock on the ground and as a result ended up falling on his rear end unable to back any more. Hiccup was starting to get bit worried when he suddenly became aware of other feeling he was sensing besides anger, worry.

Toothless snout was no less than half a meter above Hiccup's face, his eyes concentrated on a single spot on left side of the boy's face. The same side Astrid had punched him. It was bit sore and there probably was a visible bruise by now. Hiccup's eyes widened from realization but that was only reaction he had time for before half of his face got covered in dragon saliva. Hiccup wasn't sure how to react to what was happening, and didn't notice the remaining pain being dulled till a moment later.

- "Oh Toothless" Hiccup tried to push the large black head away, but stopped his struggling after noticing still serious look on the dragons eyes, as it kept sniffing Hiccup all over.

- "Don't worry I'm okay, just some bruises", he tried to keep his voice as calm and soothing as possible.

Slowly he seemed to get through to the dragon, whom nudged his snout at Hiccup chest one more time crooning quietly.

- "Thanks Toothless", Hiccup thanked him, "Now you should really go eat."

Hiccup pointed at still waiting pile of fish. Toothless didn't need to be told twice. He strolled to the pile and started devouring the fish like only starving dragon could.

* * *

><p>Toothless was more than happy to finally start eating though he still made sure to memorize the scent he found from his Hiccup. The bruise could still have been an accident. His hatchling might have had an amazing mind that had somehow blocked the queen's thoughts, but his body was so very fragile. Toothless would have to keep an eye on Hiccup in the future for other injuries, and if those also came with the same foreign scent…<p>

Well he was the most feared dragon among Vikings for a reason. He was also starting to like this hatchling very much and not only because Hiccup had just saved him from starvation. Of course, that was still important too. The small Viking was also the first person, dragon or viking, in a long time that wanted to be with him.

If Toothless had still been least bit suspicious of the small Viking he would have paid more attention, when Hiccup sneaked behind his the dragon got a bit curious after feeling Hiccup's weight on his tail, which felt strangely better. The Scar from losing his tail fin hadn't been much of a problem after first day or too. He had licked it clean several times with plenty of saliva. It helped wounds heal and prevented them from making him sick. Still the tail didn't feel normal, being so unbalanced.

Whatever Hiccup had just done felt bit strange but Toothless could feel his tail feeling almost balanced again, as if there was new tail fin. For an instant, he wanted to leap up and see if he could fly any better, but stopped on the last moment. It would better to see first what the hatchling had done to him, and make sure Hiccup wasn't in the way if he decided to fly. First peak behind his wings confirmed that he made the right decision. The small Viking was actually sitting on his tail, looking at something he had attached to it. It seemed to be the strange leather contraption, Hiccup had brought along the fish. Toothless never really paid much attention to it with Hiccup's injury and food and all.

Now the thing had his full attention. When Hiccup noticed Toothless watching, he said something in Viking speech that Toothless didn't understand. Still he could tell that the hatchling was excited. Hiccup was trying to return the flight he had taken away when shooting Toothless down. The dragon had not forgotten the memories of that event and regret Hiccup had felt because of it. Toothless couldn't stay angry at him.

After tinkering with the thing Hiccup got of the tail and looked his creation from further away muttering something. Toothless decided to test how the thing felt on his tail while it was moving. It was bit heavier and he couldn't control it like he could the real one, but if Hiccup could make this in one day, then Toothless believed he would fly again. The thought made him shiver in anticipation. Maybe he would take Hiccup for a flight too. It would be great to share a good flight with someone and the small Viking was only one the dragon could imagine doing so with.

The Hatchling had followed dragon's every move carefully seemingly observing how he felt about the new tailfin. After bouncing around for a while Toothless stopped and turned around to face Hiccup. He said something that sounded like a question. Toothless couldn't understand the words but could guess the meaning. Dragon responded by gently pushing his head against Hiccup while purring softly. Hiccup responded by scratching behind Toothless' ears.

No one had ever told that Viking's touch could be so amazing. Scratching against a tree or a rock couldn't compare against Hiccup's fingers. Toothless leaned towards the hatchling hoping for him to continue. His purring grew at least threefold. Maybe waiting for Hiccup to return his flight wouldn't be that bad.

The scratching continued for at least ten minutes by which time Toothless was in heaven. His legs had failed around five minutes. Unfortunately, it couldn't go on forever. Eventually Hiccup stopped, probably concluding that the dragon had had enough for now. Toothless disagreed, but didn't voice his disagreement. After the utterly relaxed dragon managed to open his eyes, they quickly found the small Viking and the dragon could feel his happiness. Hiccup sat next to Toothless leaning on his front paw. Keeping his attention on Hiccup Toothless could soon see and feel how tired the hatchling was.

It wasn't dark yet but Toothless decided his hatchling needed rest. With small movement, the dragon turned on his side making Hiccup fall closer to lying position against his side. Hiccup let out a small yelp and almost got up, stopped by a black leg in his way. Owner of the leg crooned more seriously and pushed him back down. Hiccup quickly took the hint and calmed down. He even gave Toothless few more scratches before the small body went limp. Feeling this Toothless covered his new friend with his wing and followed Hiccup to sleep greatly helped by the relaxing scratching.

Hours later Hiccup woke up slowly in complete darkness. The boy couldn't complain about his position. His body was held by two heavy clawed legs, with one holding his body in place and another acting as a pillow. The soft sound of breathing from the black mass next to Hiccup was very calming. Turning his head as far as he could the boy managed to see the larger black head of a dragon right behind his own. The large green eyes were open and looking at the boy carefully. He crooned softly when to Hiccup. The boy was surprised at first noticing the dragon was awake. Then again, Night Furies were clearly nocturnal, and Toothless didn't really have much else to do all day than sleep. Still he had stayed still letting Hiccup sleep under his scaly protection.

Hiccup could also see past the wing that Toothless had enveloped him with. The boy had slept longer than he had initially thought.

At this point Hiccup only had really two options. Get Toothless to let go his tight hold on him and walk through dark cold forest back home, or stay in the cosy place under his new friend's wing till morning and maybe try to get some more sleep. Despite sleeping long already, it probably wouldn't be problem to fall asleep. Hiccup ended choosing the latter option and just hoped he would wake up in time to get to (follow) training before Astrid got reason to hit him again, or Snotlout.

He had to have been the first Viking Who felt safer between claws of a dragon than with his own people.

* * *

><p>Gate of the dragon's den was knocked open and white smoke spread out filling most of the arena. Hiccup had to move from his place above the gate if he wanted to see anything plus the smoke didn't exactly smell fresh. By the time he settled near the ring entrance, Gobber had finished his explanation of the Zippleback. and the smoke had enveloped rest of the teens. They had divided into two groups. Snotlout and Tuffnut had quickly paired up while Astrid and Ruffnut formed second group. Poor Fishlegs had been left out while rest tried to push him on the other group. Finally, Gobber had told him to join Astrid and Ruffnut who happened to stand closer. Hiccup couldn't avoid feeling relieved that he wasn't the victim of bullies for once, but he felt too bad for Fishleg's. Hiccup knew far too well, what it was like when others got mean.<p>

Hiccup couldn't see what was happening inside the smokescreen, but he could hear well enough. First one he could make out clearly was Snotlout's shout.

- "There!"

Apparently Snoutlout threw his water on the wrong target considering Ruffnut's following shout.

- "HEY! It's us, idiots."

- "Your buts are getting bigger. We thought you were a dragon", Tuffnut was being Tuffnut.

- "Not that there's anything wrong with dragoneque figure.

Apparently girls didn't like that comment because Hiccup could have sworn he heard someone getting hit in the face. Suddenly situation turned more serious with Tuffnut's frantic shouts and girls yelping. Next moment Tuffnut run out of the dispersing smoke shouting.

- "I'm hurt! I'm very much hurt!

Fishlegs didn't have time to consider other's faith as one of the zippleback heads extended out of the smoke and towards him. The boy got scared and dumbed his bucket, last full bucket in the ring, on the dragon's face. This wasn't really hindered by the water as Fishlegs had soaked the gas head and the unarmed teen was no at its mercy.

Lckily Fishlegs, like all of the trainees, seemed to be, well, lucky since Zippleback didn't actually light the gat it sprayed at him till Fishlegs was well out of the green cloud, and when the dragon chased the bulky teen, its attacks seemed to always come little short of actually seriously hurting the boy.

It had been the same with the Gronckle and Nadder, at least when Hiccup had been awake to see the training. Normally he would have counted it as luck, but after meeting Toothless, he wasn't so sure.

In the end, Gobber jumped the dragon and managed to get it back to the den seemingly easily. The dragon didn't put up that much of a fight. After Gobber locked the gate, he herded his trainees together.

- "Hiccup get you're as over here."

The boy obeyed and jogged to the ring.

- "Now since things ain't going as well as they oughta and some people tend to be hard to find after leaving from here", Gobber looked at Hiccup, "we are going to see what went wrong… and do this again in the afternoon."

- "You're kidding right", Tuffnut didn't believe what he heard."

- "Do I look like I'm kidding. Now who wants to explain what went wrong."

- "Snotlout and Tuffnut threw their water on me."

Ruffnut hit her brother while speaking.

- "And how about your water Ruffnut, Astrid."

- "Mine fell when dragon's tail hit us. Ruffnut threw her bucket at her brother."

- "You do know you are supposed to fight dragons, right?... Hiccup what can you say about their performance."

Hiccup mentally cursed Gobber for putting him in this position again, not that he hadn't expected it.

- "I didn't really see much. Fishlegs was only one left when the smoke dispersed."

- "And how did he do?"

- "He still lets the dragon scare him. It prevents him from thinking clearly. When the dragon's head came from the smoke he didn't even try to see which one it was before throwing the water. Not that it really mattered."

It was easier to talk about Fishlegs. He wouldn't hunt Hiccup down afterwards for his words. Unfortunately, the last part wasn't just about the bulkiest teen and Gobber clearly expected an explanation.

- "You sent them in unarmed so they couldn't really have beaten the dragon even if they managed to stop it from lighting its fire."

Hiccup could see the realization dawning on the other teens' faces, some slower than others.

- "Oh yea. I guess you're right. Bring weapons for next training and anyone who fights anything but dragon will shovel yak dung for a week", Gobber shook his hammer hand to reinforce the threat.

- "Wait, you mean I can't punch my sister."

- "Exactly"


	6. Chapter 6

Okay it has been a while. Lot of things going on, but I managed to get a new chapter for you.

Reviews (please send more)

**NightsAnger: ** Happy to hear you like the story. This chapter might have things you like too.

**biancaruth: **I decided to go with that. It is not so far fetched that it could have some antibiotic/disinfecting/painkilling

chemicals + it is good excuse to get Hiccup covered with saliva.

**dracologistmaster : **The Zippleback, well... you can read for yourself.

**zcvoknout**: Patience young one. The sky isn't going anywhere.

* * *

><p>Hiccup hadn't counted on Gobber ordering new training session. He would have much rather just ran out to the cove. Hiccup would have rather spend time with Toothless than in his own village. It was kind of sad, but all the boy cared about was that he actually had a friend now, black scaly fire breathing lizard but still a friend. With Gobber leaving the forge unattended to take care of some errands in Stoick's absence. That meant Hiccup could work on getting Toothless to fly again.<p>

The artificial tail he had made seemed to fit the job and Toothless liked it. The problem was that the artificial fin should stay open and adjust according to Toothless' flight. Only way Hiccup could think of doing that was if he could control it. That meant he would have to ride on dragon's back. Would Toothless let him.

Hiccup would only know if he tried. He promised to make Toothless fly again and would do everything he could. If he had to ride on dragon he would at least offer Toothless the option. That meant he would need something to help him stay on his friend's back, something he could make in the forge. In the end he ended up spending most of the afternoon working on a saddle. The zippleback had expended plenty of gas during the earlier training, so the training was only bit before sundown, to allow it gather up more gas.

He almost got caught when Gobber returned to pick up something before training, but Hiccup had prepared for that. It took only few seconds to toss the crude saddle into his small backroom and pick up a sword he was supposedly sharpening.

"Okay Hiccup. Get to the ring."

"Do I really have to It's not like I actually get to do anything."

"Maybe, but it still does good for ya to see how it is done and second pair of eyes helps teach that lot."

"You mean how you make me point out when they screw up. Yeah all good that's going to do to me", Hiccup stated remembering other's less than welcoming looks when Gobber asked for his opinion.

"Listen Hiccup. I know it ain't what you wanted, but your father told me to make sure you follow every training. It is better than nothing", Gobber stated misunderstanding Hiccup's worry.

Second round against the two-headed dragon went somewhat better than the first. The dragon managed to catch Snotlout and Tuffnut by surprise. Hiccup had hard time holding a laugh when Snotlout hit the ground followed by his own bucket that fell on his head. While the dragon was tossing them around, the other team, mainly Astrid, managed to attack it from the side. This time she managed to soak the correct head. The zippleback responded by spewing large cloud of smelly green gas, but couldn't create the sparkle to light it.

After confirming this, Astrid attempted to charge the dragon through the gas but was stopped when she hit someone larger than herself.

"What the… Fishlegs! Get out of my way", Astrid pushed the large boy out of her way but it was already too late.

The dragon flicked its tail sweeping both Astrid and Fishleg to the ground, much like in the morning. Also this time Gobber interfered attacking the dragon, that again gave up surprisingly easily. Unfortunately, this wasn't something that interested fuming Astrid.

"You'r really useless you know that Fishlegs. Can't do anything right. You babble ton of yak dung about how much you know about dragons, but can't do anything right when it's the real thing. We'd be better of fighting with Hiccup. At least that fishbone is easier to puch out of the way than you fat ass."

"Ookay that's enough for today. Go home", Gobber interrupted Astrid's less than friendly rant.

Hiccup found it hard to believe what he was hearing. Well, not really, but it was still shocking. He had had kind of a crush on Astrid for a long time, even though she mainly ignored him and could have a violent temper. Listening her verbally attacking Fishlegs, again, and remembering beating Astrid had given him the previous day, Hiccup started seeing the girl in new light. He couldn't help but be depressed. He might have had a crush on her but the truth was Hiccup had gotten more love from a dragon in few days than from Astrid in his whole live.

Hiccup could easily sympathise with the larger boy. Although, that boy had left Hiccup alone bullied for years because he didn't want to risk being bullied himself. Hiccup watched Fishlegs leaving the ring obliviously sad, and then left without saying anything. No one cared about him for years. Fishlegs could survive some bashing. Maybe he would finally understand what kind of people he hanged out with.

Hiccup had other things to worry about. The sun was fast approaching the horizon and he still wanted to test the saddle and work on actually controlling the tail fin. Other thing was that Toothless was probably getting quite hungry and maybe worried because Hiccup was so late compared to earlier visits. The thought actually lifted Hiccup's spirit a bit.

Unfortunately thinking about his draconic friend got Hiccup careless. His normal carefulness had fainted along with the depression. This meant he didn't watch his surroundings as carefully as usually. That led to second collision of the day, this time with Hiccup and Snotlout.

"What… oh it's useless, just who I wanted to see. So, you think you are some smartass who can just say what your betters are doing wrong."

Hiccup tried to escape before things got violent, but Snotlout grabbed back of his shirt and pushed Hiccup against the wall.

"You'r not going anywhere. I've had a really bad day and since you are not in the training... You'll need to experience how it would be if you were."

Snotlout, like everyone, was stronger than Hiccup, so his changes of escaping anymore were low. Hiccup resigned to his faith and prepared for the approaching beating. Even after years of beating it wasn't any easier. After being slammed against the wall several times, Snotlout threw Hiccup on the ground and continued the beating. Some people walked by close enough that they had to have seen what was happening, but ignored it Vikings were supposed to fight their own battles. When it finally seemed he was finished Snotlout turned around one more time to kick his victim hard. What air Hiccup had managed to hold in his lungs came rushing out with a pained grunt.

After Snotlout left him lying there, Hiccup got up relatively quickly. He winced from the pain but pushed on. Normally he would have stayed there cursing his live, and eventually dragged himself back home, but for the first time he had something to get up for. Hiccup just wanted to get out of the village as fast as possible there wasn't anything for him. There just hadn't been anything for him outside the village, till now.

Luckily he managed to sneak the saddle, and string of rope out of the forge without Gobber noticing. The one handed man was too concentrated in hammering an axe to notice small boy sneaking in his back room and picking his stuff from their stash. He had already sneaked basket of fish to his home in the morning. What he didn't count on was how hard it was to carry the heavy basket of fish and a saddle at the same time, while injured. That kick had done its job apparently. Hiccup's side was constantly voicing its disagreement with the strain.

When Hiccup arrived to the cove he was no longer surprised that he could instantly point out exactly where the black dragon was waiting for him. Actually he was running to meet Hiccup, and the boy could easily feel the worry radiating from his black fire breathing friend.

"Hey bud", Hiccup said sadly, but with undertone of relieve. He felt lot better now with Toothless.

The dragon on the other hand went from relieved to angry faster than Astrid could swing an axe. Hiccup recognised the look in his narrowed eyes knowing what was coming. It was unlikely that Toothless would give in as easily as last time. Snotlout had beaten on him before, so Hiccup knew how bad he must have looked. He just managed to dump the fish basket and saddle on the ground before Toothless gently pushed him down on the grass next to them. The dragon sniffed him thoroughly followed by lot of saliva. Hiccup's arms instinctively got up to block the wet tongue, but the attempt missed real effort and Toothless didn't let it stop him.

After covering Hiccup's bruised face with his saliva Toothless started pushing up his shirt.

"Oh Toothless, what are you…hey, that tickles."

That was really most of what he was feeling anymore. When Toothless covered his bruises with saliva, the remaining pain fainted pretty quickly. Hiccup was thankful for that sat calmly without resisting as Toothless went through every injury that he could find on Hiccup's body. Afterwards the dragon sat in front of him the green eyes returned back to their round dilated look though Hiccup could tell dragon was still pissed at what had happened to him.

"Thanks bud", Hiccup looked his friend in the eyes.

Unfortunately that helped him remember that Toothless didn't really understand his words any better than Hiccup understood sounds dragons made. Best they could do was sensing the general feelings of the other. Only time they had really understood each other was…It was when Hiccup's hand and Toothless' snout had touched, when they truly trusted each other for the first time.

Hiccup extended his arm upward towards his friend. It was much like the situation after Hiccup had taken a bite of fish Toothless had regurgitated. The difference was that this time Toothless didn't snort at him and leave, or even hesitate. He eagerly pushed against Hiccup's hand. At first nothing seemed to happen but everything changed when Hiccup concentrated on the other mind next to him and imagined reaching for it. Where he could earlier sense some general feelings, now there was whole other mind and it was ecstatic to feel his presence.

* * *

><p>He had done it again. Hiccup had touched him. Hatchling's amazing mind had touched his. This time it was more careful, Hiccup had learned from last time, when Toothless had fainted. If the hatchling could so completely block out queens voice, he definitely had the power to seriously mess with Toothless' mind without even trying. This might have scared or even angered any other dragon, but Toothless had decided to put his trust on Hiccup.<p>

Instead of pushing through Toothless' memories like last time Hiccup kept his touch light. He.. he just wanted to say something. Dragons didn't communicate with words like humans but meanings and meaning behind Hiccup's thoughts was clear no matter the language.

'_Thank you.'_

Toothless purred at that but there was something that he wanted to do too. He probably couldn't force anything out of Hiccup's mind if the hatchling didn't want him to. It didn't matter, because their trust was mutual. When Toothless extended himself to Hiccup's memories any block on his ways disappeared out of his way. Toothless didn't know if Hiccup did it consciously or instinctually, but it didn't matter. He quickly found the memory he was searching. Memory of how Hiccup got hurt.

He could see everything that had happened as Hiccup saw it. Another Viking hatchling had attacked him, one much stronger than Hiccup. Hiccup knew his assailant well, and not in a good way. It wasn't first time this had happened. A low growl emanated from Toothless' throat, accompanying wish to tear the other Viking to shreds. The violent reaction got Hiccup's attention. In his carefulness, the Hatchling had been almost passive while letting dragon in his mind. Mind that now grabbed a hold of Toothless' decisively.

'_No, you can't hurt anyone.'_

'_They hurt you.'_

'_No shredding.'_

'_I don't want you to get hurt.'_

'_I know, thank you', _Hiccup's last thoughts were covered with emotions as he let his hold on Toothless mind loosen.

Back in control of his body Toothless affectionately curled his tail and body around Hiccup, as far as he could without moving his snout from hatchling's hand.

'_You protect my mind. I protect you.'_

'_?'_

Toothless instantly understood that Hiccup didn't know what he meant so he reached into his own memories. If he showed Hiccup the queen, he would understand everything better.

The memories flowed between too friends. Hiccup gasped at the flood of new information. Toothless showed him the queen, how she was fed, some unlucky dragons getting eaten for not bringing enough food. Most importantly he shared memories of her voice in his mind, the brainwashing that made dragons think they actually wanted to serve her.

'_She talks to you?'_

'_Not anymore.'_

The realization after Hiccup had touched him for the first time and blocked away her voice, was most last but important of the memories Toothless shared. He could feel Hiccup's reaction, mix of happiness for being able to help his friend, and disbelieve he could actually do something like that.

'_Toothless, as long as I have the power, I won't let that monster touch your mind.'_

'_And I will protect you as long as I live.'_

'_No shredding annoying teens.'_

Toothless just snorted at that, but Hiccup got impression that dragon accepted histerms although reluctantly.

'_I want to show you something but you should eat first. I brought fish and no eels this time.''_

'_Good' _

* * *

><p>Hiccup unwillingly took his hand from Toothless head feeling their minds drift further from each other as he did so. He could still sense dragon's general feelings but no his thoughts or memories. His eyes had been closed for the whole time so Hiccup was surprised to notice Toothless' new position around him. He reacted by scratching Toothless' chin and pointing at the basket of fish. The hungry dragon didn't need any more hints.<p>

Hiccup was torn between being happy or disgusted at the way his friend devoured the smelly pile of fish. He decided on former. It became easier when Toothless finished his meal. Other people would have been worried seeing a dragon lick his lips while staring at them, but Hiccup found it kind of cute. He had picked up the saddle and was now holding it in front of Toothless who looked at the item curiously.

"It's a… oh right, "Hiccup placed his hand on Toothless head again, _'It is a saddle'_ Hiccup transferred to concept of a saddle to Toothless, _'I need to ride on you to control the tailfin. Is… is that okay with you?'_

'_No Viking has ever rode a dragon.'_

'_I understand',_ Hiccupwas disappointed but wouldn't pressure Toothless but the dragon wasn't finished yet.

'_I'd be happy if you were the first. If you can catch me.'_

Without warning the black dragon broke their connection and bounced away.

"Hey!"

At first Hiccup was surprised and maybe a bit annoyed but the longer he chased the dragon holding the more he was enjoying himself. Hiccup hadn't noticed Toothless' playful side earlier but started to like it. He lasted quite long chasing the dragon. If Hiccup could do something physical, it was running.

Still he couldn't catch Toothless and ran out of breath first. He sat down by the pond using his hands to sip some water. A large black head appeared next to him to do the same.

"Have you played enough for today?" Hiccup said even though he knew the dragon didn't understand.

Hiccup held the saddle up to clarify his words. Toothless answered by lowering his head so Hiccup could reach his back more easily.

"Thanks"

Toothless seemed curious, even excited at what Hiccup was doing, but stayed surprisingly still till the boy got the saddle and fin on him. This time Hiccup had attached a long rope on the fin so he could open it while sitting on the saddle. What else could he do? Hang on the tail and control the fin by hand. That wouldn't end well.

"Okay, I guess we'll just have to give it a try", Hiccup got on the saddle and put his hand on toothless' head, _'Try to fly, but don't do anything sudden.'_

Under Hiccup the dragon lowered his body closer to the ground ready to bounce of the ground. The actual jump was almost enough to drop Hiccup from the saddle,. For a moment it seemed like it they were going to fail when Toothless started drifting on one side. Hiccup managed to pull open the tail fin just in time and they flew,

at least for a moment.

Hiccup pulled the control rope bit too hard, making Toothless turn sharply. This finally dropped Hiccup of the saddle. Without him controlling the tail, Toothless came down after his boy. Luckily they were still in the cove flying above the pond and water softened their crash. Toothless managed to get to shore first and rushed to where Hiccup was just climbing of the water. The dragon nudged his shoulder worriedly with his snout.

Don't worry. I'm okay", Hiccup said and then remembered his friend wouldn't understand the words.

He took a sad glance at the black face hovering above him. Hiccup stood up to show he was okay, and the look in those large green eyes softened and then hardened again when Hiccup shivered visibly. The sun was setting, autumn was approaching its end and Hiccup was soaking wet after the unexpected swim.

"Oh, man. This just is great."

He had two options: head home get something dry and try to warm up the house, or stay there with Toothless and ask his help to stay warm. The more he thought his options the more clearly it was what he really wanted. The very idea of leaving the cove to return home was unappealing to say the least. There wasn't really anything to make him want to return. The cove on the other hand had the one thing bringing light to his live.

Hiccup put his hand on Toothless' head but didn't have time to ask him.

-_'You are feeling cold.'_

_-'Yeah, aren't you.'_

_-'No, but you need to get warm.' _

_-'can you help me make a fire.'_

_-'You need to ask? I made a promise to you, didn't I', _Toothless snorted at Hiccup

There wasn't much firewood in the cove but Toothless managed to rip apart of some branches and roots hanging on the rock walls and Hiccup gathered them into a pile. Toothless lit it up with careful stream of plasma. The heat radiating from the fire made Hiccup feel little better but he was still wet and air was only getting colder. Toothless saw his hatchling's discomfort and curled around him trying to offer what warmth he could. The boy leaned against his friend without even thinking about it and Toothless responded by unfolding his wing which lowered to protect Hiccup from the cold air. As Hiccup got warmer, the boy started hoping he could just stay there forever but sky was getting darker.

Toothless interrupted Hiccup's thoughts by extending his own towards the boy's mind.

'_Hiccup, you don't need to leave.'_

'_Whoaa, don't scare me like that… How can you? I'm not?'_

'_You are still touching my body. I guess that is enough.'_

'_I guess you're right. 'What did you say about leaving.'_

'_I know you were thinking about leaving for the night, but you don't want to. You don't need to. You can sleep with me like last night.'_

'_Doesn't it disturb you? I mean, your normally awake during the night right. If I'm sleeping under your wing you can't move around.'_

'_Where would I go and…'_ Toothless stopped sending thoughts to Hiccup consciously, but the boy could sense hint of sadness.

'_What? Is something wrong.'_

'_No, but it would be nice to.. to not be alone'_

Hiccup had seen enough Toothless' memories to know he was outcast among dragons bit like he himself was with Vikings. He never went deep enough to understand how lonely the black dragon had been.

'_Don't worry bud. I can't think of a place I'd rather be, but I still need to leave in the morning. Otherwise people will get suspicious and I need to work on you gear.' _

'_Know. I'll wake you up.'_

Hiccup was going to thank Toothless for that when the dragon suddenly got up from laying on the ground. Hiccup didn't have time to ask what he was doing when the dragon twisted his body bringing his other wing around from below scaled stomach. Hiccup got grabbed by powerful legs, and soon found him completely encased. Even below him, there were only dark scales where ground had just been. Only sounds were of slow breathing and faint heartbeat.

'_Toothless?'_

'_This is more comfortable to you, right?'_

'_Yeah I guess, but you didn't need to.'_

'_Yes I did. The ground is cold to you. Now go to sleep, I won't let anything disturb you.'_

'_Overprotective lizard.'_

Toothless responded by tightening his hold on the boy, and Hiccup didn't mind that one bit.


End file.
